Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Menlo Park Real Estate' Category

Menlo Park Real Estate Week in Review June 13

14 new single family home listings came on the market this past week in Menlo Park.

To view these new listings in Menlo Park, click here.

11 single family homes in Menlo Park went pending sale this week.

106 single family homes in Menlo Park are currently for sale.

68 single family homes in Menlo Park currently have pending sales.

64.1% pending to active ratio in Menlo Park.

For Menlo Park market data, click here.

Monthly Home Sales: Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and San Carlos

Tracking recent monthly sales data in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and San Carlos indicates the real estate market is getting stronger and more competitive for buyers.

I have been tracking percentage of sales at or above list price since the start of the year.

Data for the first four months of the year can be found here.

May 2010 Sales at or above list price

• 30.9% in Menlo Park, down from April’s 36.6%.
• 57.4% in Palo Alto, up slightly from April’s 56.2%.
• 75.0% in San Carlos, up from April’s 70.0%.

May 2010 Average Days on Market

• 40 average days on market in Menlo Park
• 27 average days on market in Palo Alto
• 14 days on market in San Carlos

Both metrics indicate the San Carlos market is stronger.

I am interested in why the data is different between these three cities.

Any ideas as to why this is happening?

San Carlos homes are at a lower price point than homes in Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

Perhaps the data indicates higher demand in the more affordable price ranges.

I will need to take a closer look, at the raw data below.

Menlo Park May 2010 sales data

Palo Alto May 2010 sales data

San Carlos May 2010 sales data

How’s the Market in Menlo Park?

How’s the Market in Palo Alto?

How’s the Market in San Carlos?

The many neighborhoods of Menlo Park

The City of Menlo Park stretches from the marshlands along the western boundary of the San Francisco Bay near the Dumbarton Bridge across Hwy 101 and El Camino all the way to the start of the foothills west of HWY 280 where Woodside and Portola Valley area.

For detailed information including school ranking data and census information, click here.

Menlo Park offers single family homes priced from $300,000 to $4M or $5M.

There are many distinct neighborhoods in Menlo Park.

West Menlo Park has 1/4 acre lots with 50 year old good quality ranch homes. Typically, the original homes were 1800 to 2300sf. Many large new 2 story homes have been built in west Menlo Park.

Allied Arts was originally developed in the 1930s.  Allied Arts has an eclectic mix of older very charming smaller homes and newer larger homes. Lots tend to be smaller than in West Menlo Park.

The Willows is one of Menlo Park’s more affordable neighborhoods. The original homes were built in the late 1940s and 1950s by Bohannon.

Click here for map that shows the locations off all Menlo Park neighborhoods.

Current listings and sales data can be obtained via the map by clicking on neighborhood or neighborhood name.

Menlo Park MLS map areas

Do you ever wonder exactly where all the various Menlo Park neighborhoods are?

Allied Arts? the Willows? Felton Gables? Sharon Heights? West Menlo Park?

Here’s a MAP to help.

Transfer Taxes upon sale of real estate

Transfer taxes on the sale of real property are collected by San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco Counties.

These transfer taxes are paid in escrow and are part of buyer and seller closing costs.

Typically, the County transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000 of value and are generally paid by the seller.
So upon sale of a $500,000 house, the seller will pay a transfer tax of $1.10 x 500 or $550 to the County.

Some cities also have City transfer taxes.
On the San Francisco Peninsula; San Francisco, San Mateo, Palo Alto, Mt. View and San Jose have City transfer taxes.
Generally, city transfer taxes are spilt 50/50 between buyer and seller.

The City transfer tax in Palo Alto, Mt. View, and San Jose is $3.30 per $1000 of value.
So on a $500,000 sale in these cities, the City transfer tax is $3.30 x 500 = $1650.
Buyer pay $825. Seller pays $825.

The City transfer tax in San Mateo is $5.00 per $1,000 of value.
So on a $500,000 sale in San Mateo, the City transfer tax is $5 x 500 = $2500.
Buyer pays $1250. Seller pays $1250.

So if you are buying or selling in those cities, be sure to take into account these City transfer taxes.

Leased land homes in Menlo Park

There are two areas in Menlo Park where single family homes can be found on leased land.

The first is the area known as Stanford Hills located off Sand Hill Road between Hwy 280 and Alameda and on a few streets near Oak Knoll Elementary School.

What is leased land?

Lease land is where the “original owner” of the property retains title to the property but provides a long term lease on the land to the owner of the house. There are no monthly payments for this land lease as the cost was paid to Stanford many years ago by the devleoper in these neighborhoods.

In this case, Stanford University owns the land and the homeowner owns the house and all improvements on the land and has the right to occupy the land during the term of the lease.

These leases originated in 1952 and when written were for 99 year terms.

So the leases will expire in 2051 – just a little over 41 years from now.

Homes on lease land typically will sell for less than homes on the standard fee-simple land where owner owns the land forever. So one could say one is able to buy more house in these west Menlo locations since one does not own the land but only has the right to use the land for another 41 years.

In general, I would say one can “save” several hundred thousand dollars initially by buying on leased land.

Of course, the value of the lease decreases as the remaining term of the lease gets shorter.

Understandably many buyers will not purchase leased land since they want to won the gorund too.

What happens at the end of the lease?

Stanford has not yet made a determination. Stanford could take the land back and require everyone to leave. This is not a likely scenario as the political fall-out from such a move would be large. Stanford could decide to let the homeowners remain and extend the lease perhaps at an additional cost. Stanford could sell the land to the homeowners. I see this as unlikely.

For a history of Stanford’s land use, click here.

Here are some recent Stanford leased land properties that are on the market or have recently sold.

$1,475,000 – 2319 BRANNER DR

$1,650,000 – 48 CAMPBELL LN

$1,195,000 – 2327 BRANNER DR

$1,239,000 – 2347 BRANNER DR

Menlo Park Real Estate Week in Review May 23, 2010

17 new single family home listings came on the market this past week in Menlo Park.

To view these new listings in Menlo Park, click here.

11 single family homes in Menlo Park went pending sale this week.

107 single family homes in Menlo Park are currently for sale.

73 single family homes in Menlo Park currently have pending sales.

72.7% pending to active ratio in Menlo Park.

For Menlo Park market data, click here.

What do you want downtown Menlo Park to look like?

My real estate office has been located in Menlo Park since 1978. When I worked for my father’s company, Cenedella and Company; we were located at 1134 Crane Street off Santa Cruz Avenue between Santa Cruz Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue, right next to one of Menlo Park’s oldest and best restaurants, Carpaccios.

Downtown Menlo Park has always been “sleepier” than downtown Palo Alto.  Some people like it that way, others prefer more “action” – it is all a matter of personal preference. The streets in downtown Menlo Park generally become pretty quiet after about 10PM whereas in downtown Palo Alto, people are walking up and down University Avenue until midnight and later.

I have lived in San Carlos since 1986 and in the past 5 years, downtown San Carlos has become a “happening” spot with Town, Piaceres, and the Carlos Club among other establishments. It is great to go downtown on Thursday nights during the summer where the Farmers Market is and bump in to lots of my friends from San Carlos.

So, how much “action” do Menlo Park residents want?

Do the folks of Menlo Park want Menlo Park to become more like downtown Palo Alto or remain the same?

I often tell friends San Francisco is a great place to have fun, no doubt – but that life is easier on the Peninsula. One of the reasons “life is easier” on the Peninsula is that parking is easier on the Peninsula than in San Francisco.

Downtown Menlo Park is blessed with several FREE City parking lots – these were built many years ago in part from contributions from land and business owners in the downtown Menlo Park area.

Currently, the City is considering plans to develop some of these downtown parking lots into mixed used developments and parking structures. Currently unlike downtown Palo Alto, there are no parking structures in downtown Menlo Park. The City hopes this additional development will bring additional revenues to Menlo Park and increase the vibrancy of downtown.

Some property owners in downtown have now organized to stop the proposed development. They fear that less parking will mean less visitors to their stores. It is a justifiable concern. Of course, one could argue that more shops and business downtown and additional parking due to construction of parking structures will bring even more folks to downtown Menlo Park.

In my opinion, there is no right answer. as I say it is a matter of personal taste and vision.

The Almanac has written two articles on the issue, here’s the first and here’s the second.

Check them out, let me know what you think?

I am sure things will get a little heated at the City Council as this issue moves forward.

Looking for good schools?

Every parent wants to send their children to excellent schools.

School rankings play a big role in property values – the better the schools – the higher the property values.

2009 API scores have just been published and no surprise:

Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and San Carlos rank very well.

Click on City below to see API scores for each school in the City:

Menlo Park

Menlo Parks shows an average API of 931 with a low of 918 and a high of 940.

Palo Alto

Palo Alto shows an average API of 919 with a low of 861 and a high of 982.

San Carlos

San Carlos shows an average API of 896 with a low of 861 and a high of 917.

Sequoia Union High School District (which covers Menlo Park to Belmont)

High schools in this in this district have API scores from 740 to 827.

West Menlo Park real estate market update

West Menlo Park contains 4 distinct MLS areas:

Allied Arts/Downtown    

Central Menlo aka West Menlo    

County Area off Alameda aka University Heights 

Sharon Heights

To view current listings in each neighborhood, just click on neighborhood name.

Let’s look at April 2010 market data in each of these areas:

To get actual numeric data, just move your cursor over the graph.

Allied Arts

Central Menlo aka West Menlo

County Area off Alameda aka University Heights

Sharon Heights